The Bridge - USF School of Nursing Newsletter

Nursing Faculty Recognized for Excellence

Two School of Nursing faculty have been recognized for their outstanding teaching by the National League for Nursing (NLN).

Associate
Professor of nursing Greg DeBourgh (center) accepts an Academy of
Nursing Education fellowship from Elaine Tagliareni, president of the
NLN (left) and Beverly Malone (right), CEO of the NLN.

Associate Professor Greg DeBourgh, who has been at USF since 1993
and has a doctoral degree in education, was recently named an NLN
Academy of Nursing Education Fellow (ANEF), one of just 65 selected for
the honor nationwide.

Nursing instructor Elizabeth Cooper, who graduated in December from
USF with a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP), became the School of
Nursing’s first faculty member to receive NLN Certification as a
Nursing Educator (CNE).

The NLN is a professional organization dedicated to promoting
excellence in nursing education and building a strong and diverse
nursing workforce. The organization strives to recognize and capitalize
on the wisdom of outstanding individuals in the profession who have
contributed to nursing education in sustained and significant ways.

The “highly prestigious honor” means DeBourgh will travel to New
York City this spring to serve on the panel that selects the next group
of NLN fellows, as well as work to advance the educational initiatives
of the academy – including such projects as embedding simulation into
nursing curricula, and using technology to engage learners in
developing clinical reasoning.

“Well respected in the university community, Dr. DeBourgh has earned
every teaching award available (at USF),” said School of Nursing Dean
Judith Karshmer, when asked about DeBourgh’s influence in the school.

DeBourgh, who teaches advanced therapeutics and reasoning and
supervises students in their hospital-based care requirement, is known
for his multimedia classroom approach, opening his classes with a
streaming video history of his evolution as a nursing instructor, which
“hooks” students and allows them to connect with him, Karshmer said.

Cooper, a full-time faculty member in the School of Nursing who also
works in the cardiovascular intensive care unit at the University of
California San Francisco, specializes in adult health and
cardiovascular intensive care.

The CNE puts her in a select group of nursing educators with a
combination of advanced course work and on-the-job experience in both
nursing and teaching who have passed the requisite exam.

“Liz is the first person in the School of Nursing to take the
national nurse educator certification exam,” Karshmer said of Cooper’s
certification. “This commitment to excellence in education is typical
of Liz's passion to link clinical practice to the student experience.”

Among the skills that make Cooper outstanding is her ability to help
students apply classroom content from the textbook to the clinical
setting and ensure evidence-based practices, Karshmer said.